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www.securitysystemsnews.com june 2018 S e C u RITY SYST e MS ne WS
Commer C ial & systems integrators 16
briefs
Industry mourns the
passing of Choice
Security's Jim Durkin
LANCASTER, Pa.—Choice Security
announced the unexpected passing of
company founder and CEO James J.
Durkin. He was 65.
Founding owner Ray Bear, who will
be assuming the role of CEO, said, "Jim
Durkin was a long term friend as well as
a business partner. All of us in the Choice
Security family mourn his passing. He will
be greatly missed. We are committed to
continuing to provide the same quality of
service to our customers that Jim insisted
upon. All the employees of Choice have
committed to continuing the legacy that
Jim started."
Durkin was born to John Vincent Sr.
and Mary Catherine McAllister Durkin in
Jersey City, N.J., on June 27, 1952. He
was raised on Long Island, N.Y., and
attended Mineola High School.
He was commissioned to the U.S.
Army Signal Corps upon graduation from
Gannon College in 1974 and was honor-
ably discharged after proudly achieving
the rank of Captain.
He was a member of the Rotary Club
of Lancaster and treasurer of the Notre
Dame Club of Harrisburg.
Durkin loved vacationing in Florida,
the University of Notre Dame, coaching
lacrosse, golf, and above all—his family.
He was the beloved husband of Mary
Rose, father of Caihlin, her husband
Jacob, James Joseph III, future grand-
father of Joshua James, brother of John
Vincent Jr., his wife JoAnn, Kathleen
McGarvey, and her husband William.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be
made to the Brain & Behavior Research
Foundation (a cause close to his heart):
90 Park Avenue, 16th Floor, New York,
N.Y. 10016.
IHS releases Global Smart
Buildings Products study
WESTMINSTER, Colo.—Global Smart
Buildings Products were worth $12.5
Billion in 2017 and are forecasted to reach
more than $20.8 billion globally in 2022,
according to new a research study from
IHS Markit.
This report provides extensive and
comprehensive analysis of the market for
building management system (BMS) plat-
forms, as well as the equipment connect-
ed through these platforms, with detailed
market sizing and forecasts.
The report also tracks manufacturer
revenues and unit shipments of four
product types and 14 equipment types
across four global regions (North America,
Western Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of
World) and six end-user industries.
Convergint acquires in France
Fire Monitoring of
Canada purchases
By Paul Ragusa
S C H A U M B U R G , I l l . —
Convergint Technologies, a
global systems integration
company based here, in May
announced the acquisition of
Paris-based systems integrator
Astrec Security.
" I n t e r m s o f c o m i n g t o
France, what we have looked
at is where our key custom-
ers are at, and we have a
number of these key custom-
ers, particularly the multi-
nationals, which have facili-
ties in France," Dan Moceri,
Convergint's co-founder and
CEO, told Security Systems
News. "So we have been look-
ing to do something here for
quite awhile, and we finally
found the right company that
fits our criteria."
Moceri said he is "ver y
excited" to bring Astrec into
Vector offers cloud
By Spencer Ives
ST. CATHARINES, Ontario—
Fire Monitoring of Canada,
a full-service company based
here, recently announced that
it purchased Bulldog Fire and
Security, based out of Kitchener,
Ontario.
"The majority of what we do
is in the com-
mercial space.
… W h e n w e
look for acqui-
sitions, we look
for something
t h a t f i t s t h e
model of what we do in terms of
our customer base and culture
and synergies," FMC vice presi-
dent Kevin Allison told Security
Systems News, adding that
Bulldog fit all of those criteria.
"We're excited to work with all
of the people at Bulldog."
FMC acquired the accounts
of Bulldog, and will continue
to operate the company's loca-
tion in Kitchener. FMC also
will bring on all of Bulldog's
staff—totaling more than 20
employees. "All of that stuff
that made the business suc-
cessful we wanted to keep on,
because Bulldog was and will
continue to be a successful
business, operating as a division
of FMC," Allison said.
FMC operates a ULC-listed
and TMA Five Diamond moni-
toring center and has more
than 35 employees total. FMC,
based here, monitors through-
o u t C a n a d a ,
and this pur-
c h a s e d e e p -
ens the com-
pany's market
penetration
in Southwest
Ontario.
The acquisition allows FMC
to offer more in terms of large
commercial projects and cam-
era integrations, leveraging
Bulldog's experience in that
area, Allison said. "Bringing
in that kind of expertise just
adds another layer to what
we can provide the customer.
With all of that, providing our
own monitoring, providing the
ability to do fire alarm work
and fire alarm inspections, we
can kind of offer the whole
package … for total building
security."
SSN
the Convergint Nation, noting
that the company's suburban
Paris location and ser vice
experience will serve complex
global customers that are fac-
ing sophisticated integration
needs on an enterprise level.
"As we have always
said, it is fairly easy
to go anywhere in
the world and install
a particular project
but service is a local
i s s u e , s o w e w i l l
continue to expand
where our custom-
ers are going," he
explained, noting that Astrec
has been a quality service
partner for Convergint inter-
nationally for many years.
Founded in 2003, Astrec offers
security solutions to custom-
ers throughout Europe, with
a focus in access control and
Michael Wood, senior director
of marketing at VMware, said
in the press release. "With its
expertise in managed network
services and physical secu-
rity deployment and manage-
ment, Vector Security Network
enables organizations to rapidly
deploy and manage VeloCloud
Cloud-Delivered SD-WAN
services."
White pointed out that
Vector Security Networks sup-
ports multiple technologies and
utilizes a consultative approach
to ensure the most effective
solution is used for customer
networks.
"Our decision was driven
both by client interest and
our experience with cloud-
managed infrastructure, which
we have provided for some
time," White told Security
Systems News. "Beyond com-
mon benefits such as simpli-
fied administration and ease
of deployment, SD-WAN is
greatly enhanced by the cloud.
For example, the VeloCloud
service and on-site technology
work together to effectively
prioritize network traffic over
multiple broadband connec-
tions, providing excellent quali-
ty of service for business critical
applications. Cloud-to-cloud
connections also allow more
efficient connectivity between
our customer's locations and
the services they use every
day, rather than routing this
traffic through their corporate
data center."
White told SSN that the
company is seeing strong inter-
est from companies looking
to upgrade or migrate away
from expensive, aging net-
works. "They want to increase
bandwidth to support cus-
tomer Wi-Fi, M2M, cloud
applications, and many other
initiatives, and they want to
accomplish this using afford-
able broadband. SD-WAN pro-
vides a path that addresses the
most common requirements
around reliability, security, and
scalability," he explained. "As
we move forward, we expect to
see greater adoption of network
segmentation and monitor-
ing to address cyber threats,
along with extensive use of
cellular connections such as
4G/LTE, and eventually 5G,
for even more robust network
resiliency."
SSN
Convergint team, we realized
what a unique opportunity it
would be to join with such
a like-minded company as
Convergint. Both of our orga-
nizations are deeply commit-
ted to the values we believe
in, especially service."
Moving forward, Moceri
said that Convergint continues
to rapidly expand its global
footprint through both organic
and acquisitive growth. This
deal marks the company's
ninth acquisition since early
2017, and Moceri said that
there are "plenty of opportuni-
ties" to expand the company's
presence in Europe and glob-
ally.
"We will continue the strat-
egy that has gotten us to today,
which is all based on being
able to service our customers
on a local basis," he said.
SSN
video surveillance.
Moceri said Convergint and
Astrec share a company cul-
ture that is centered around
a dedication to customer ser-
vice, and the joint organization
provides a diverse range of ser-
vice-based solutions
supported by a highly
experienced world-
w i d e w o r k f o r c e .
And as with other
Convergint acquisi-
tions, everyone from
Astrec will be joining
the Convergint team,
he noted.
"Our team is thrilled to be
joining with a company rec-
ognized around the world as
a leader in our market," Odile
Tanfin, director of administra-
tion for Astrec Security, said
in the announcement. "In
our conversations with the
Continued from page 1
Dan Moceri
"The majority of
what we do is in the
commercial space."
—Kevin Allison, FMC